(I HAVE INTERNET! YES!)
Yesterday marked the final time that JAWs would be together until winter break brings Winney and Aid home again.
I rode the bus from the apartment to the dorms early in the morning, ready to tackle the task of decorating the bulletin board in my room. I was in the middle of planning when Aid's dad dropped her (and a box full of books) off here at my dorm. After an hour or so of decorating, talking, and touring, Aid and I walked down to Da Kitchen to have a Hawaiian style lunch with Winney. We could feel the heat rising from the pavement, warming the already humid air, so we all welcomed the cool air-conditioning indoors. We feasted on musubi, shared a huge plate of butterfish and pork laulau and attempted to finish off the "Notorious B.I.G." Loco Moco but ultimately could not go on in the end.
After, we headed off to Winney's house for a quick stop and then proceeded to walk up the hill toward UH so that I could show them where I'm going to be living for the next school year. I showed them the lobby, my room, the bathrooms/showers, laundry room, and the kitchen. We spent quite a bit of time on the roof. We were walking around for a while up there (Win and Aid were taking pictures of the view) until we all decided to stop to figure out where 'Iolani stands relative to where we were. It took a while to find the Court Plaza and the Royal 'Iolani but we did. We stood there, looking out toward where our high school selves had thrived all the while standing on the very campus (in Win's and Aid's cases, it's more figurative) that will hopefully help me continue to grow in the next four years.
It was what Win and Aid both said at this point that brings me to this post's topic. As we all enjoyed and took in the view in silence, Winney said, "Guys, it's like home," to which Aid responded, "This is home."
So we stood there, our heads defiant against the tradewinds, silent in a friendship that was formed around Physics class and extreme temperatures.
And I got to thinking about home--the intangible and proverbial Home, not the physical roofs above our heads.
Some say that home wherever family and other loved ones are. Home to others is a person, not a place. But I think home can be a million different things to one person.
Home is the surprising lack of outward panic when you accidentally (and idiotically) lock yourself out. Home is having someone who'll take textbooks off your hands (and your mind). Home is a Jane Austenish Rose Waltz dorm room, or at least an attempt at one. It is the classic spaghetti-strap-top-with-slippers-and-denim-shorts combo that is perfect for hot and humid summer lunch dates. Home is the feel of tradewinds on the sweaty and sticky skin of someone who unknowingly walked a longer distance than necessary. Home is never realizing that you could ever have such strong feelings for a spam musubi until you bite into a deep fried one. It is the awed silence that follows the first glorious bite of pork laulau that literally melts in your mouth and the satisfied and heavy one that accompanies a full belly and sleepy after-meal eyes.
Home can take the form of many things. And we constantly create these forms ourselves, day after day. Today, I realized that home is also the "Good Morning" rainbow waiting right outside your dorm room's picture window--the first thing you happen to see when you open your eyes in the morning, bleary-eyed and with a sore back from sleeping in an unfamiliar mattress.
And I'm so glad to be here. It's been tough getting used to the fact that I'm staying here in Hawaii for college. But I can finally say, without the slightest hint of reluctance or irritation, that I am staying home for college.
Tomorrow is going to be very different, but I don't really know what to expect so it will be what it will be. "One class at a time," first. Then, "one day at a time," then "one week at a time." And then before I know it, "one month at a time" will turn into "one year at a time."
And college will go by maybe twice as quick as high school did.
There's nothing like the feeling that you get when you come back home from a long trip. But in this case, I've been home all along. I just didn't appreciate it much.
Risks: 24
Hugs: 8
Current food obsessions/cravings: fruit thins
Playlists on Repeat: I Wanna Know, This is What it Feels Like, ALLTHESONGS
Books Read Since Graduation: 6
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